[Fish Sandwich]

I definitely liked this episode, but I also can't shake the feeling it's a bit plain? I feel like an episode like this, dealing with some backstory that's only been hinted at for a huge chunk of a series, there's generally some kind of extra hook to it that this one doesn't have. Like some character would be finding this information out too, and it changes the way they feel about something or another; maybe a character in the backstory changes a bit in the present after some introspection about their past; or maybe just, as viewers, there's some secret within that story we never would've guessed. I don't really feel like the episode does any of that, which is maybe a criticism, but...!

...None of that is some absolute I want to force on an episode that is absolutely well-executed and emotionally engaging even just as is. I can call it "plain", but that also means it's an episode that gets in, does what it's doing super cleanly, and gets out with not a single extraneous thing ever once pulling focus away from the core concept. It's cool to do this just as its own episode, really giving it that time to breathe, and there are a lot of great touches throughout. The way they establish how Soul Metal works and then use that to symbolize how much of a struggle Kouga had living up to his legacy is brilliant, for one thing. Plus, you know, as a Kuuga fan, I appreciated how this show's two kanji, one word episode titles allows the name of this one to literally just be Kouga's dad's name. Like, what's this one about? Well there ya' go! Could not possibly be more fitting.